friend of the family
by eponnia
Summary: After the gorilla gang is arrested by the ZPD, Officer Wilde checks in on the son of an old friend. [No slash. Part 1 of the "you're gonna me roar" series. One-shot.]


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Technically the name "Big Daddy" doesn't appear in the final script of** _ **Sing**_ **, so I'm not going to use it. I've seen Marcus used as a name for the character in some** _ **Sing**_ **fics, but I've decided to call him Peter after the actor who voiced Big Daddy, Peter Serafinowicz.**

 **This takes place in the** _ **Zootopia**_ **timeline after Nick joined the ZPD, but in the** _ **Sing**_ **timeline on the day that the gorilla gang was arrested and Johnny was still in rehearsals for the singing competition. I've decided to cut the city/state/whatever it is of Calatonia from** _ **Sing**_ **; everything in that film's city now takes place in the city of Zootopia. Also, as there are rhino police officers in both** _ **Zootopia**_ **and** _ **Sing**_ **, we're just going to say that McHorn, Rhonowitz, and Krumpanski are the same (unnamed) officers that are in** _ **Sing**_ **.**

 **This is the first in a long series of** _ **Sing**_ **and** _ **Zootopia**_ **crossovers. Given these movies obviously have uncountable similarities and were released in the same year, I expected crossovers to explode, but nothing really happened. I'm here to make up for it.**

 **The series title is from "Roar" by Katy Perry.**

* * *

When Bogo slams open the door of the break room, Nick only raises an eyebrow.

"Gold was just stolen from a river barge in the Rainforest District," the water buffalo announces. "McHorn, Rhonowitz, and Krumpanski, head out."

"Who are we looking for?" McHorn asks as he pours his remaining coffee down the sink, and Nick's left ear twitches at the waste. It is true that the beverage will probably be cold by the time the rhinoceros returns, but Nick was raised to save everything, and that meant _everything_. One mug of coffee could be reheated, no matter if the taste would be affected afterwards.

Bogo peers through his glasses at the file. "Three male mountain gorillas."

"Names?" Rhonowitz grunts, and Nick's heart nearly stops when Bogo answers the other rhinoceros.

"Peter Silverback, Barry Gorillini, and Stan Monkeigh."

* * *

For the rest of his shift, Nick can't help but watch the clock.

It takes the three horned police officers almost two hours to return to the station. As usual, McHorn is matter of fact when he reports to Bogo that all the criminals had been arrested. Yet even as quiet settles over the ZPD offices again, Nick still watches the hands turn on the clock on the wall. The fox has never been one to linger at work, but tonight he wastes no time in heading for the door.

"Everything okay, Nick?" Judy asks as he brushes past her.

"There's just something I have to look into," he calls over his shoulder.

* * *

Nick goes straight to his new apartment in Savanna Central – it's not a mansion, but it's better than where he lived before becoming a cop – and changes into his old khakis, palm tree-patterned shirt, and striped tie. He can't show up in uniform looking like he's going to arrest the animal he needs to talk to, and hopefully the clothes he wore before joining the ZPD might make him appear less threatening.

He takes a taxi, a luxury he still isn't used to being able to afford, to the car garage on the other side of Savanna Central. But the fox doesn't go up to the door right away. Having the lack of notoriety that Judy will never shake and also wearing civilian clothes helps Nick to blend in, and none of the passerby give him a second glance as he lingers on the sidewalk.

But the animal he is trying to reach doesn't pick up the fox's first phone call. Or the second. Or the third.

 _Nick Wilde TODAY 8:38PM I'm outside the garage. Have a moment to chat?_

He waits a couple of minutes before going to the garage's back door and knocking in the least threatening manner he can. It wasn't too long ago that he himself feared a cop's pounding fist on his own door. "Anybody home?" he calls, straining to hear any sounds behind the door. "It's Nick Wilde. I just want to talk. I'm not here to arrest you."

Finally the door cracks open, and Nick sees the teenage mountain gorilla's frightened face.

"Nick?"

"Hey, Johnny," the fox says easily as the door opens a few more centimeters, and Nick can see the baseball bat in Johnny Silverback's grip. The police officer wonders if it's because the teenager fears his own arrest, or a Nighthowler dart in his neck even though the savage crisis ended over a year ago. Maybe both. "I heard about your dad and the others."

"Did you arrest them?" Johnny asks. But there's no hostility in his voice, only honest nerves, and Nick is reminded again of how much the teenager takes after his gentler lowland gorilla mother.

The fox shakes his head. "No. I'm just here to see if you're okay."

"Why?"

Nick shrugs. "Because I'm a friend of your family, you're only sixteen, and somebody should check in on you."

The gorilla watches him for a long moment before lowering the baseball bat and opening the door wide. "Come in, I guess."

When Nick follows Johnny inside, the fox scans the drafty garage. It hasn't changed since he was here last, but now he looks at the place with a different eye. The living quarters behind the workshop are as sparse as he remembered. There are still the two leather sofas with blankets stacked underneath, and the tiny kitchenette that looks barely large enough for one animal the size of a gorilla, let alone two with one being a growing teenager. Before, Nick wouldn't have thought twice about sleeping on a couch to save money. Yet the sofas look old, and would Johnny really fit comfortably on one of them?

But the fox isn't here just for a house inspection.

"How are you doing?"

Johnny adjusts his leather jacket and doesn't meet Nick's gaze. "Fine."

"You don't have to lie to me," the fox says, keeping his tone light.

Though Johnny towers over Nick in terms of height, the gorilla looks small and scared. "Uh, I'm not… great."

Nick waits for him to continue.

"I think I can get Dad's bail money," Johnny adds. Nick raises an eyebrow, but doesn't interrupt as the teenager continues. "But until then, I don't really know what I'm going to do, honestly."

"Call me if you ever need anything at all," Nick offers. It's weird to be the responsible one now, but someone has to be there for Johnny. Nick supposes he could ask Finnick to keep an eye on the gorilla, but what will the fennec fox realistically be able to do? Finnick still lives out of his van, and that makes the garage seem like a palace in comparison.

Wracking his brain, Nick goes over to the mini fridge. It's packed to bursting without any wasted space, but is mostly filled with beer cans and only two Styrofoam takeout boxes. The red fox glances over at Johnny and sees the way that the young gorilla's jacket is a size too small, the leather starting to crack and seams to fray. Johnny's jeans are faded in such a way Nick doesn't think it's meant to be a fashion statement, and the teenager's Converse are battered.

Nick is the first to say that there is no shame in being poor. But growing kids – and that's what Johnny is, he's still just a _kid_ who has to bail his own father out of jail – need more than restaurant takeout and a couch for a bed.

Peter Silverback might be a thief on the side of his garage business, but Nick never knew the gorilla to be a neglectful father. Morally gray as the gray fur on his back, yes, but Peter always looked after to Johnny. Maybe money has been getting tight for them, and maybe the gold that the gang tried to steal was Peter's way of providing. Nick's not about to ask about the Silverback family's financial situation, though; there's an unspoken rule among animals like them that those kind of questions aren't discussed.

But apparently they don't have enough for Peter's bail, and the small time gang leader's sixteen-year-old son is landed with trying to pay it on his own.

"I'm going to buy you some groceries," Nick announces, turning on his heel and heading for the door. "Could you take those beers out of the fridge so there's some room in there?"

"Uh, okay," Johnny says.

But when Nick pauses at the door and looks back over his shoulder to see the gorilla kneeling in front of the mini fridge, the fox realizes a few bags of groceries aren't going to be enough.

"You know what, never mind. Scratch that idea."

Johnny looks up, long fingers curled around a beer can. "What?"

"You don't have to accept if you don't want to," Nick begins, "and there's no pressure. I wouldn't ask this if I wasn't a family friend. But how about you stay at my place until your dad gets back?"

The teenager stands, eyes wide. "You mean that?"

The police officer nods. "Yeah, I do."

Johnny's voice is filled so much relief and gratitude it breaks Nick's heart clean in two. "Thanks."

The corner of the fox's mouth turns up. "Anytime, kid."

* * *

"This is all yours as long as you need," Nick says as they stand in the guest room of his apartment. The room is usually only used by his mother when she visits, but Nick knows she'll understand if it has a long term occupant.

"Really?" Johnny says, voice breaking.

"Really," Nick replies, realizing how late it is and how tired and stressed Johnny must be. "Well, I'll leave you to get settled. I will be just down the hall if you need anything."

The cop goes into the hallway, but stops at the teenager's voice.

"Thanks for everything, Nick. Really."

Nick smiles. "Don't mention it, kid. After all, what are friends for?"

* * *

During Nick's lunch break a few days later, he goes with Johnny to the Zootopia City Prison.

"They're not going to let me go in with you for the actual visitation," the fox says during the taxi drive. "But I won't be far."

"Okay," the gorilla replies, knee bobbing nervously.

Nick is prepared to spend as much of his hour lunch break at the prison as necessary, but Johnny returns from the visitation in under five minutes. The fox almost asks how it went, but the young gorilla's expression says everything as he heads for the security check to leave the building. Only when they are in another taxi does Johnny actually say anything.

"So, I told him that I might be able to pay his bail, with the prize money," the teenager begins. "If I win the singing competition, that is."

Nick vaguely remembers hearing on the news about a music contest at the Moon Theatre, but the fox patiently listens to Johnny as he goes on. "This is the first time I told him I was even in it, or that I want to be a singer instead of being a criminal."

This is the first Nick himself has heard of Johnny's performing aspirations, but if even Peter didn't know, the teenager really kept his dreams carefully under wraps.

But then tears well in Johnny's eyes. "And then… and then he said how could he have ended up with a son like me, that I wasn't even really his son because I don't want to be in his gang…"

The taxi driver wordlessly passes back a tissue box, and Nick gives one to Johnny. "I think it's a good thing you don't want to be in his gang," the fox offers.

Johnny only blows his nose in response.

"We both know I wasn't above bending the law before I joined the ZPD," Nick continues. "But I wouldn't recommend pursuing a life of crime. You're almost an adult. You get to decide what you want to do with your life. Not your dad. Not anyone else. _You_. And if that's music, then by all means go for it."

Nick only goes with Johnny to the apartment to unlock the front door. "I have to get back to work," the cop says, and holds out his key. "Here."

"I can't take your key–" Johnny protests.

"I'll get another key made, but I'm not going to be home until late tonight anyway." Nick tosses the key to Johnny. "Go watch tv or something. See you later."

"See you," Johnny says, eyes red, and Nick hesitates.

"Everything's going to be okay," the fox offers.

Nick doesn't know how he'll fix this, but he has to try, because a sixteen-year-old shouldn't have to pick up the pieces of his life alone. Tears brim in Johnny's eyes, and the police officer is reminded for the hundredth time of how young the gorilla is.

"We'll figure something out," the fox adds, and the gorilla smiles, however shakily, for the first time since his father's arrest.


End file.
